From a long-ago ('96? '98?) time when I was hoping to get other artists to draw Dirty Pair comics I'd write for 'em*, here's a design sheet I worked up for Kei and Yuri's body proportions.

I originally tried to draw the DP 8 heads tall, but as the years went by, I grew tired of drawing the elongated, spidery legs that an 8-heads-tall hottie's proportions require, and switched to a more reasonable 7-heads-tall (or less) scheme. Also semi-interesting: The '96-era Kei and Yuri sport narrower hips and thicker waists than I'd customarily draw nowadays.

You follow a similar model to what I do now when using the "Head-height Rule". The whole 8 heads thing seemed a bit "off" for me. Later, I saw where people would just toss this aside and go for 9 heads, 10, 11... etc. It just looked stupid, especially when trying to go for a more realistic portrayal of characters within a certain setting. (I go for 7½ heads.)

Model sheets are something I used to do regularly when designing characters. It's a habit inspired by the old anime "Roman album" collections, and stuff like Marvel's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series. Whether you're working on a set of characters yourself, or with the collaboration of other artists, I guess it is a good rule to follow.

I have fond memories of watching the original TV series back in the mid 1980s everyday when I was back from work in Japan. Not much left from the original designs here, but I guess they didn't let you use them, did they?

No, we had to come up with our own take on the DP, with no connection to the anime version (which worked out for the best, believe me). In fact, these sketches represent my third (published) iteration of the DP's designs.

It's interesting how Sunrise could sell you the brand without rights to the designs. It's also interesting how the original DP TV series never made to America, though I have only seen some of the OAVs/movies on English DVD. Nonetheless I saw the mention of "Kei Yuri" used as a password in a Star Trek: Deep Space 9 episode.

Oh I see, makes a lot of sense getting the rights straight from the author than from the animation studio who produced the animated version. I find it also ironic that Kei and Yuri were mere side characters that only make a brief appearance in the Crusher Joe movie from the same author. Back in the 1980's, rumors were that Kei & Yuri only got their own series because of pressure from fans, but in reality the series originated from something stranger - the World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA), which Takachiho was a fan of. The character names (apparently) came from Studio Nue's employees Yuri Tanaka and Keiko Otoguro. The "Dirty Pair/Lovely Angels" were references to female wrestler groups, such as the "Beauty Pair" and the "Queen Angels". It seems pretty plausible to me.

You want a job done right, do it yourself. I find the marginalia almost as interesting as the designs of our favorite trouble consultants. And of course, Kei has to get in that gratuitous butt joke. Thanks for another trip on the Wayback Machine.